Order Code RS21834

This report summarizes U.S. assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of
North Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea). It will be updated periodically to
track changes in U.S. provision of aid to North Korea. A more extended description and
analysis of aid to North Korea, including assistance provided by other countries, is
provided in CRS Report RL31785, Foreign Assistance to North Korea.
Since 1995, the United States has provided North Korea with over $1.1 billion in
assistance, about 60% of which has paid for food aid. About 40% was energy assistance
channeled through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO),
the multilateral organization established in 1994 to provide energy aid in exchange for
North Korea’s pledge to halt its existing nuclear program. U.S. assistance to North
Korea has fallen significantly over the past three years, and was zero in FY2006. The
KEDO program was shut down in January 2006. Food aid has been scrutinized because
the DPRK government restricts the ability of donor agencies to operate in the country.
Compounding the problem is that South Korea and China, by far North Korea’s two
most important providers of food aid, have little to no monitoring systems in place.
Since North Korea tested several missiles in July 2006, South Korea has suspended most
official humanitarian assistance.
In the summer of 2005, the North Korean government announced it would no
longer need humanitarian assistance from the United Nations, including from the World
Food Program (WFP), the primary channel for U.S. food aid. Part of Pyongyang’s
motivation appears to have been a desire to negotiate a less intrusive monitoring
presence. In response, the WFP negotiated a drastically scaled-down “development”
assistance program with the North Korean government. Since then, the United States
has not provided any food aid. As of late December 2006, donors had provided the
WFP with less than 15% of its goal for 2006-2008. U.N. officials have warned that
falling aid shipments and flooding in 2006 could lead to “severe food shortages” by the
spring of 2007. U.S. officials, including President Bush, have indicated that United
States food development assistance might be forthcoming if North Korea begins
dismantling its nuclear programs in the six party nuclear talks.
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Food Aid1
Since 1996, the United States has sent just over 2 million metric tons (MT) of food
assistance, worth about $700 million, to help North Korea alleviate chronic, massive food
shortages that began in the early 1990s. A severe famine in the mid-1990s killed an
estimated 600,000-2 million North Koreans. Over 90% of U.S. food assistance to
Pyongyang has been channeled through the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), which has
sent over 3.7 million metric tons (MT) of food to the DPRK since 1996. The U.S. is by
far the largest cumulative contributor to the WFP’s North Korea appeals, though its share
of the WFP’s annual donations to North Korea has fallen markedly since 2002. U.S.
shipments have fallen significantly since then, as have donations from most other
contributors to the WFP’s North Korea appeals. Assistance provided by the WFP has
fallen dramatically since 2001, when over 900,000 MT were shipped, to less than 100,000
MT in 2006. “Donor fatigue” is often cited as the primary reason for the decline, as
contributing nations have objected to the North Korean government’s continued
development of its nuclear and missile programs as well as tightened restrictions on the
ability of donor agencies to monitor food shipments to ensure food is received by the
neediest. Various sources assert that some — perhaps substantial amounts — of the food

assistance going to North Korea is routinely diverted for resale in private markets or other
uses.2 The emergence of other emergency food situations around the globe also has
stretched the food aid resources of the United States and other donors.

The WFP has said that although North Korea’s domestic food production has
stabilized in recent years, the situation appears to have become acute for urban, non-elite
North Koreans, particularly industrial workers living in the northern and northeastern
provinces that historically have been discriminated against by the communist government
in Pyongyang. This situation appears to have been worsened by the steep rise in food
prices that followed economic reforms enacted in 2002. U.N. officials have warned that
falling aid shipments and flooding in 2006 could lead to “severe food shortages” by the
spring of 2007.3

U.S. Food Aid Policy. U.S. official policy in recent times has de-linked food and
humanitarian aid from strategic interests. The Bush Administration has provided North
Korea with food assistance despite continued tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear
programs. Since June 2002, the Bush Administration officially has linked the level of
U.S. food aid to three factors: the need in North Korea, competing needs on U.S. food
assistance, and “verifiable progress” in North Korea allowing the humanitarian
community improved access and monitoring.4 In practice, some argue that the timing for
U.S. pledges sometimes appears to be motivated also by a desire to influence talks over
North Korea’s nuclear program, and that the linkage between U.S. donations and
improvements in North Korea’s cooperation with the WFP occasionally has been tenuous.

Tightened Restrictions in North Korea in 2006. In August 2005, Pyongyang
informed the United Nations that beginning in 2006, it would no longer accept U.N.
“humanitarian assistance,” but instead would accept “development cooperation.”5 North
Korea also asked all resident foreigners from the dozen or so aid NGOs operating in
Pyongyang to leave the country. In November 2005, Pyongyang temporarily decided to
reject aid from the European Union (EU) after the EU proposed a U.N. resolution on
human rights in North Korea. The North Korean government reportedly attributed its
decisions to an improved harvest, the decline in WFP food shipments, a desire to end
dependence on food assistance, and its unhappiness with the United States and EU’s
raising the human rights issue.6

2
See, for instance, Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, Hunger and Human Rights: The
Politics of Famine in North Korea (Washington, DC: U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North
Korea, 2005), in which the authors argue that up to half of the WFP’s aid deliveries did not reach
their intended recipients.
3
United Nations News Service, “Worsening Food Shortages in DPR Korea Spark Warning from
UN Agencies,” December 22, 2006.
4
USAID Press Release, June 7, 2002.
5
“Gist of DPRK Vice Foreign Minister’s News Conference,” Kyodo Clue II, September 23,
2005, translated by FBIS, JPP20050926004001.
6
“DPRK Blames US Linking of ‘Humanitarian Assistance’ With ‘Human Rights’ in Rejecting
Food Aid” Chosun Ilbo, September 26, 2005; Gordon Fairclough, “North Korea Wants an End
to Food Aid,” The Asian Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2005. In early September 2005,
(continued...)
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Pyongyang’s motivation appears have been at least partly designed to increase its
leverage in negotiating tighter restrictions on the U.N. and other Western aid groups.
North Korea has continued to accept direct food shipments from South Korea and China,
and many have accused these countries with undermining the WFP’s negotiating leverage
with Pyongyang.7 China, which provides all of its assistance directly to North Korea, is
widely believed to have provided even more food than the United States. Since 2001,
South Korea has emerged as a major provider of food assistance, perhaps surpassing
China in importance in some years. Almost 90% of Seoul’s food shipments from 2001-
2005 have been provided bilaterally to Pyongyang. Notably, China apparently does not
monitor its food assistance and South Korea only has a small monitoring system; South
Korean officials conducted 20 monitoring trips to food distribution centers in 2005, up
from 1 in 2000. In contrast, the WFP had a much more intrusive presence in North Korea,
with over 40 expatriate staff and six offices around the country conducting thousands of
monitoring trips every year. In response to North Korea’s test of several missiles in July
2006, South Korea announced a suspension of humanitarian assistance.

The WFP’s Response. In response to the new policies, the WFP temporarily shut
down its operations before renegotiating its program with North Korea and its major
donor countries. Pyongyang insisted on tight restrictions and WFP officials reportedly
debated among themselves whether to shut down the North Korea program.8 In the deal,
the WFP expatriate staff was cut by 75%, to ten people, all of whom are based in
Pyongyang. WFP officials have said their new, scaled-down program would feed 1.9
million people, less than a third of the 6.4 million people the WFP previously had
targeted. The goal for WFP’s June 2006- May 2008 appeal is 150,000 MT, compared
with an annual target of 500,000 MT for its 2005 appeal.9 The WFP has stated that as of
late December 2006, donors had provided about 15% of the $102 million requested for
the two-year North Korea appeal.

Humanitarian vs. Development Assistance. North Korea’s distinction
between humanitarian and development assistance labels could be important. By law and
practice, assistance deemed to be “humanitarian” generally is exempted from sanctions.
As for “development” (“non-emergency”) food aid, U.S. law contains some conditions
that could be used by the executive branch or Congress as a justification for reducing or
cutting off donations. Since FY2002, over 90% of food aid to North Korea has been
provided under Title II of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of
1954, as amended (P.L. 83-480, also known as P.L.480), which is administered by
USAID. Congress directly appropriates P.L.480, and therefore could, although it rarely

6
(...continued)
newly appointed U.S. Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea reportedly suggested that DPRK’s
human rights record be made a condition of receiving food aid. Two days later, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice re-stated U.S. policy of not using food as a weapon. State Department,
“Press Briefing in Advance of Trip to the UN General Assembly,” September 9, 2005.
7
Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, “Hungry For Human Rights,” Washington Post,
September 28, 2005.
8
Naoko Aoki, “WFP Ends Initial Talks with N. Korea,” Kyodo News, January 13, 2006.
9
WFP Press Release, “WFP Set to Resume Operations in North Korea,” 11 May 2006; undated
WFP document, Projected 2007 Needs for WFP Projects and Operations, Korea, DPR.
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does, direct how the food should or should not be disbursed.10 Additionally, competing
demands from other emergency situations have stretched U.S. food aid funds and
commodities, which could make it harder to justify sending food to North Korea if its
humanitarian situation is categorized as a non-emergency.

Related Internal Moves by Pyongyang. The tighter restrictions on Western
aid groups in North Korea coincides with signs that Pyongyang is reasserting itself in
other ways. The government has banned the sale of rice and other staples in private
markets, which had been legalized since 2002, leading to rampant inflation. In place of
private sales of food staples, the government says it has re-established the state-run public
distribution system, which essentially broke down in many parts of the country in the mid-
1990s. Some argue that Pyongyang’s moves are motivated by a desire to tighten the
government’s societal controls — including price controls and travel restrictions — many
of which had been loosened since the mid-1990s. For instance, by reinstituting the public
distribution system’s monopoly on the supply of basic foods, the government has reduced
incentives for North Koreans to travel to markets outside of their home towns and
districts. The government also reportedly has introduced a new pricing system setting
much lower food prices for those who report to their official jobs. Over the past decade,
many North Koreans have stopped reporting to their jobs in order to start trading
businesses.11

Energy and Other Forms of Assistance
KEDO. Since 1995, the United States has provided over $400 million in energy
assistance to North Korea under the terms of the 1994 Agreed Framework, in which the
DPRK agreed to halt its existing plutonium-based nuclear program in exchange for energy
aid from the United States and other countries. The assistance consisted of the
construction of two light-water nuclear reactors (LWRs) and the provision of 500,000
tons of heavy fuel oil while the reactors were being built. KEDO halted fuel oil
shipments after October 2002, when North Korea reportedly admitted that it had a secret
uranium enrichment program. In response, North Korea demanded new negotiations with
the United States and restarted a number of nuclear facilities that were mothballed under
the Agreed Framework, creating a major foreign policy problem for the United States and
the DPRK’s neighbors. The Bush Administration sought to permanently end the KEDO
program.12 In 2003 and 2004, KEDO’s Executive Board (the United States, South Korea,
Japan, and the European Union) decided to suspend construction on the LWRs for one
year periods. In the fall of 2005, the KEDO program was terminated. In January 2006,
the last foreign KEDO workers left the LWR construction site.

10
For instance, section 536b of Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (109-102) waives P.L.
480 non-emergency food assistance from restrictions imposed under U.S. law. However, section
536b — which has been included each foreign operations appropriations act since FY2002 —
also contains two exceptions: statutes that prohibit aid to “countries” on the U.S. list of state
sponsors of terrorism and statutes that prohibit aid to a “government” that “violates
internationally recognized norms of human rights.” Such prohibitions are contained in sections
620A and 116, respectively, of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Both apply to North Korea.
11
JoongAng Ilbo, “DPRK Adopts New Food Rationing System,” October 5, 2005.
12
State Department Daily Press Briefing by Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman, Nov. 5, 2003.
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Proposals Linked to North Korea’s Nuclear Program and the Six Party
Talks. Administration officials, including President Bush, have said that U.S.
development assistance would be forthcoming if North Korea begins dismantling its
nuclear programs. In January 2003, President Bush said that he would consider offering
the DPRK a “bold initiative” including energy and agricultural development aid if the
country first verifiably dismantles its nuclear program and satisfies other U.S. security
concerns dealing with missiles and the deployment of conventional forces.13 In June
2004, during the third round of six party talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis,
the United States tabled a proposal that envisioned a freeze of North Korea’s weapons
program, followed by a series of measures to ensure complete dismantlement and,
eventually, a permanent security guarantee, negotiations to resolve North Korea’s energy
problems, and discussions on normalizing U.S.-North Korean relations that would include
lifting the remaining U.S. sanctions and removing North Korea from the list of terrorist-
supporting countries. In the interim, Japan and South Korea would provide the North
with heavy oil. The United States strongly backed a South Korean offer, first made in
July 2005, to provide 2,000 megawatts of electricity annually to North Korea if
Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear programs. In a joint “statement of principles” reached
in September 2005, following the fourth round of the six party talks, the six parties agreed
to “promote economic cooperation in the fields of energy, trade and investment,
bilaterally and/or multilaterally,” and the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and
Russia “stated their willingness to provide energy assistance to the DPRK.” In six party
talks held in December 2006, as well as meetings held earlier that month with North
Korean negotiators, U.S. officials reportedly spelled out a detailed package of
humanitarian, economic, and energy aid that would be available to Pyongyang if it gave
up nuclear weapons and technology.14

The North Korean Human Rights Act
In the fall of 2004, the 108th Congress passed and President Bush signed H.R. 4011
(P.L. 108-333), the North Korea Human Rights Act. The act includes provisions dealing
with U.S. assistance to North Korea, including a requirement that U.S. non-humanitarian
assistance to North Korea be contingent upon North Korea making “substantial progress”
on a number of specific human rights issues, and hortatory language stating that
“significant increases” above current levels of U.S. support for humanitarian assistance
should be conditioned upon “substantial improvements” in transparency, monitoring, and
access. The act also requires the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) to report to Congress on humanitarian assistance activities to North Korea and
North Koreans in China. Pyongyang has cited P.L.108-333 as evidence of the United
States’ “hostile policy” toward North Korea.

13
The Administration reportedly was preparing to offer a version of this plan to North Korea in
the summer of 2002, but pulled it back after acquiring more details of Pyongyang’s clandestine
uranium nuclear weapons program. Testimony of Richard Armitage, State Department Deputy
Secretary, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Feb. 4, 2003.
14
Helene Cooper and David Sanger, “U.S. Offers North Korea Aid for Dropping Nuclear Plans,”
New York Times, December 6, 2006.